The gospel for Thursday of the 30th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke 13:31st to the 35th verse. Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you. He replied, go and tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow. And on the third day I will accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow and the following day.

For it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets in stone, those sent to you. How many times I yearn to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling. Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The most likely reason that Jesus says he must be killed in Jerusalem is the fact that Jerusalem was the place of most of the resistance to any of the messages of the prophets.

So it was there, between the temple and a prophetic voice, that the story unfolds in a very unfortunate way. They continue to resist the truth. And what is so touching about this passage is the way in which the truth is that God, through Jesus, has always longed to gather the children of Israel into a family, into a place of intimacy with him. And they’ve always refused. And today they still refuse. After your reflection, I will close with a prayer.

Sam Sa Foreign closing prayer. Father, you ask us through the Holy Spirit’s power to face so many things within us that we really don’t want to look at, we don’t want to face. Bless us with openness to your prophetic word, to your truth, so we can feel the fruits of what it means to be cared for by you, loved by you, forgiven by you. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.